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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



PETER WRAXALLr 

SECRETARY OP Indian Affairs fok the PRO^^NCE or New York, and of the first 

Provincial Congress held in Albany, in l'r54; Aid-de-Camp to Sir Wji. 

Johnson during the Crown Point Expedition of 1755; etc. 



[Commmiicated to the Albany Institute, April IG, 1866, and May 81, 1870 .J 

By DANIEL J. PRATT. 



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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



PETER WRAXALL, 

Seckktauy of Indian Affaiks fok the Province op New York, and of the first 

PiioviNCiAi, Congress held in Albany, in 1754; Aid-de-Cajip to Sir Wm. 

Johnson durino the Crown Point Expedition of 1755; etc. 

[^Communicated to the AllMuiy Institute, April 10, 18GG, and May 31, 1870.] 

By DANIEL J. PRATT. 



Wraxall is both a parish and a family name in England, 
and may readily be traced in one line, as far back as 1731, 
and much further, doubtless, by those who have access to 
local genealogical records. The first volume of the Gentle- 
man's Magazine, published in 1731, and a number of the 
subsequent volumes, contain obituary, marriage, business, 
and literary notices of persons more or less eminent, 
bearing this surname, among whom the most conspicu- 
ous is Sir Nathaniel William "Wraxall, who was made a 
baronet in 1813, in consideration of some service in the 
British East India Company, but whose reputation is 
more largely due to the authorship of several biographical 
and historical memoirs, written in an easy and engaging 
style, and regarded by reliable judges as w^orks of positive 
merit, despite the severe criticisms of an Edinburgh re- 
viewer and other zealous defamers. Little is known of 
the immediate family of Peter Wraxall, or of his relation- 
ship to the Wraxalls before referred to, except that his 
ftither, John Wraxall, was a resident of the city of Bris- 
tol, Avhcre most of the persons of that name seem to have 



resided, in tlio absence of authentic records, it may be 
presumed lliat Peter Wraxall belonged to the generation 
next succeeding Sir IS^atbaniel, and that tlie two may have 
been as nearly related as second cousins. Nothing has, 
as yet, been ascertained concerning the early life, educa- 
tion and adventures of the subject of this memorial. We 
can only infer that lie received a respectable though limited 
education, and that he may have joined either the army or 
navy and first visited the new world in this capacity. He 
seems to have come hither by the way of the West Indies, 
where lie probably remained some time, as he afterwards 
sends his compliments to Admiral Boscawen, whom he 
says he knew intimately in Jamaica. By some means he 
accpiired a knowledge of the Low Dutch language, which 
proved of value to him in his subsequent researches among 
the manuscript Indian records of this province. The ear- 
liest ascertained mention of Mr. Wraxall occurs in the year 
1746, at which time he was probably not far from twenty- 
five years of age. During the year just mentioned, he 
commanded a Long Island company raised for the proposed 
expedition against Canada, but which marched no further 
than Albany, the expedition having proved a wretched 
faikire on the part of its leaders, despite tlie abundant 
exertions of the colonies. During the next year, 1747, 
Captain Wraxall asked and obtained leave from Gov, Clin- 
ton to visit England on pressing private business, also 
bearing dispatches from the governor with a highly com- 
plimentary letter of introduction to under-secretary Andrew 
Stone, 

After a lay)se of five years, during which no re- 
cord of Mr, AVi-axall appears, he was commissioned by the 
crown as secretary or agent for the government of New 
York to the Indians, and also as town clerk, clerk of the 
peace and clerk of the common pleas, for the city and 
county of Albany, Having formally assumed the secretary- 



ship of Indian afiairs, ho applied to the mayor and common 
councillors of Albany to be inducted into the clerkship 
above mentioned, then held by Ilarme Gansevoort, under 
authority of a commission granted a few months previously 
by Gov. Clinton. The mayor and council spent sometime 
in deliberating upon the rival claims of Gansevoort and 
Wraxal], and finally compromised their action by administer- 
ing the oath of ofHce to Mr. Wraxal 1, but leaving him to 
obtain possession of the papers pertaining thereto, by pro- 
cess of huv. The consequence was an appeal to the Lords 
of Trade, who recommended to the lords justices tbat the 
commission granted to Gansevoort by Gov. Clinton be 
revoked. The lords justices, willing, perhaps, to excuse 
themselves from any decisive action, left the matter, as we 
presume, to take its course in the provincial courts. The 
consequence was a protracted suit, in which Mr. Wraxall 
spent no small amount of money without ever obtaining 
any redress for himself, but which his successor, Mr. Witham 
Marsh, brought to a successful issue. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Wraxall assiduously devoted himself 
to the duties of the office of secretary of Indian affairs, and 
added to his ordinary labors the preparation of an abridg- 
ment of the records of Indian affairs, contained in four folio 
volumes, transacted in the colony of New York from the 
year 1678 to the year 1751. This abridgment was designed 
for the special use of Lord Halifax, and has, almost by 
accident, been rescued from destruction, and is now pre- 
served as a manuscript volume in one of the secure cases 
of the New York State Library. These abridged records 
are the more valuable, from the fact that the original four 
folio volumes have disappeared from the archives of the 
state, and it is feared are no longer in existence. The pre- 
face to the abridgment furnishes much valuable informa- 
tion, on various subjects connected with Mr. Wraxall's 
historv. 



Aside from bis official attendance at several Indian 
conferences in New York and elsewhere, the next 
mention of Mr. Wraxallis in connection with the first pro- 
vincial congress, held at Albany in 1754, of which Peter 
Wraxall was secretary, and Benjamin Franklin and Stephen 
Hopkins, both subsequently signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, leading members. In the spring of the 
following year, 1755, after the council held at Alexandria, 
under the call of Gen. Braddock, to arrange the plans of 
the then opening campaign. Gen. (afterwards Sir Wm.) 
Jolnison having been assigned to the command of the 
Crown Point expedition, wrote.to Peter Wraxall earnestly 
soliciting him to accompany him as his secretary, assigning 
as a reason, his need of the best service in that capacity, 
and his entire confidence in Mr, Wraxall's fitness for the 
position. The invitation was accepted, and Mr. Wraxall 
entered upon a very laborious and faithful period of service, 
not only as secretary, but also as the general's aid-de- 
camp and judge advocate. Sir AVilliam testifies in scores 
of letters to various officials at home and abroad, to the 
untiring, unrewarded and invaluable labors of this his 
most valuable friend and ally. Capt. Wraxall was present 
at tlie memorable battle of Lake George, on the 8th of 
September, 1755, at which the French general, Baron 
Dieskau, was taken prisoner, and for the results of which, 
as narrated by his secretary, the commanding general was 
rewarded by the English government with a baronetcy and 
a donation of ,£5,000 sterling. 

Captain Wraxall's health seemstohave been permanently 
impaired by this campaign, and although he persevered in 
his official rehitionship to Sir William, he was much of the 
time unfit for the field, and some of the time for attendance 
upon the numerous Indian conferences which, as super- 
intendent of Indian allairs. Sir William had occasion to 
hold. 



During the summer of 1756, part of which he spent 
in New York, Mr. Wraxall mentioned, in a letter to Sir 
William, his intention of forming a matrimonial alliance, 
should health and official duties permit. This intention 
was carried into eflect on the Dth of December, 1756, and 
Miss Elizabeth Stilwell became his bride. The ceremony 
was performed b}^ the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, as we learn 
from the records of Trinity parish, a transcript of which has 
been kindly furnished bj' the present rector. Rev. Dr. 
Morgan Dix. This union seems to have been, so far as the 
lasting affection of the parties was concerned, a most happy 
one, though probabljamblessed with children. Mrs. "Wrax- 
all continued to reside in New York, in the hii-cd house 
which had been provided, while Captain Wraxall spent 
his time, partly athome, and partly with or near Sir William, 
and Lord Loudoun, the new commander-in-chief, who 
would have made Mr. Wraxall a member of his military 
family, had he been disposed to abandon his former 
superior. His faithful and efficient service was not, how- 
ever, to be long enjoyed, for on the 11th of July, 1759, after 
a few days of renewed and painful illness, he closed his 
eyes in death, probably at the age of about thirty-eight or 
forty years. 

Mr. Wraxall left an undated and unsigned will, a copy 
of Avhich is tiled in the State Hall, from which several items 
of information have been gathered, and from which it 
appears that he was possessed of a moderate fortune, ample 
for the relief of his needy sisters, and to satisfy " the 
well regulated temperance of her" (Mrs. Wraxall's) 
"wishes and the wise relish she has of this world," quoting 
from the will. 

Mrs. Wraxall lived in widowhood until June 11, 
1763, when she was married to John Mauusell, an 
officer of the British army. His name, Mauusell, has be- 
come the prasnomen of several other surnames, as for 



6 



example Maunsell B. Field, Mannsell Van Rensselaer, etc., 
and is found to have been derived in some of these cases 
from the husband of Elizabeth Wraxall. We have found 
mention of two brothers-in-law of Captain Wraxall, one a 
Capt. Smith, who seems to have been atthe time stationed at 
Oswego, and the other Peter De Visure, a merchant of New 
York city, whose letter to Sir William on the death of 
"liis dearest and ever beloved brother, Peter Wraxall," is on 
tile among the Wm. L. Stone portion of the Johnson manu- 
scripts, in the State Library. Another interesting letter 
appears in the Cooper portion of the manuscripts, from the 
bereaved father of the deceased, dated Bristol, Sept. 15, 1760. 
Mention is made in this letter, and also in a subsequent 
letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Wraxall to Sir William, of an 
unfinished manuscript, written by Peter Wraxall during his 
last years, entitled " Some general thoughts upon the 
security, the cultivation and the commerce of the northern 
colonies of America," written in answer to some queries 
proposed to him by Dean Tucker. It would be a satisfac- 
tion to find this manuscript among the Johnson papers, 
where it doubtless once belonged, but as yet we find no 
trace of it in any of the several collections whicli have been 
procured for the State Library. 



APPENDIX. 



Albany Instiiute, May 31st, 1870. 

Referring to the biographical notice of Peter "Wraxall, 
coninninicated to the Institute April 16, 1866 {Proceed- 
ings, vol. I, pp. 28-33), the recording secretary (Mr. Pratt) 
stated that he had endeavored to gain additional facts re- 
specting Mr. Wraxall's early life, and especially the date 
of his biith, having made formal inquiry through the N'otes 
and Queries of May 19, 1866, to which no ans\\;er had 
been furnished ; and having also enlisted the services of 
Z. Eastman, Esq.. IT. S. consul at Bristol, Eng., who kindly 
examined the parish records of that cit}', and made inquiry 
through a local newspaper ; but that nothing had been 
reported by him, beyond the discovery of the church yard 
where the Wraxalls were buried. 

It further appears that a present member and officer of 
the Institute, Mr. Joseph W. Russell, vice-president of the 
third department, is related, through the maternal line, to 
Mrs. Wraxall, and that he has inherited several books which 
seem to have belonged to Peter Wraxall, some of which 
are inscribed ''Elizabeth Wraxall" or "Elizabeth Mauu- 
sell," or both. 

The subject of the foregoing sketch being an ancestor, 
by marriage, of several families now residing in this State, 
seems entitled to a place in our genealogical as well as 
historical memorials. 



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